Community employment, CE, and community involvement schemes are a vital part of our community. The caring sector, Tidy Towns associations, sports clubs, schools and so on are having major difficulty in terms of their sponsors and sub-sponsors due to Covid-19. They cannot fundraise and are ending up with deficits. They have to pay insurance costs, bank charges, IT costs, payroll and all the other charges even though some of them are not currently operational. Will the Taoiseach ask the Minister in charge to give them an increase of at least €6 per week for the materials, even if only for the Covid period, because it is vital that those schemes continue? They are a lifeline for communities in terms of visiting the vulnerable, meals and wheels and everything else. They need political funding at the moment because they cannot fundraise. They always fundraised previously but they cannot in these times. They need to be supported.

We have a major crisis in respect of people over the age of 55 who are on CE schemes. I had a Zoom meeting last Friday with the Skibbereen Education and Environment Project company, which has a number of CE workers, but it looks as if its numbers will be halved. CE workers over the age of 55 and up to the age of 60 are finding it very difficult to get alternative employment. They are now being withdrawn from the CE schemes, which means that community and voluntary organisations mainly will suffer. The Taoiseach will have to intervene with the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, on this issue.

As the Taoiseach is aware, the CE schemes do fantastic work in rural communities in particular. I ask for action to be taken in terms of the situation in which they now find themselves, which is at crisis point. Will he increase each scheme by €6 per week to cover their materials?

On the same issue, I want to speak on behalf of the CE schemes and their incredible success, particularly in my constituency of Cork South-West. The Mizen Peninsula, Baltimore, Skibbereen and Clonakilty have had incredibly successful CE schemes that do brilliant work on the ground but they are worried about their future. They are worried about a slashing of participants in the CE schemes. We need someone to look into that and address those issues.

I have been a long-term supporter of CE schemes in whatever position I held, particularly when I was in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. I preserved them and gave additional supports in particular to those over the age of 55. I was the first Minister to bring in the scheme for those over the age of 55 to give longer terms for people on CE schemes. My view is that CE schemes are essential to underpin communities and should not be seen just as a labour market intervention but rather as a community support. I will talk to the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, with regard to the points raised by the Deputies. I have seen the work of enterprise schemes and CE schemes across the length and breadth of the country. We will see what we can do. Yesterday, in the Covid plan, we provided for additional funding more generally for communities and for mental health NGOs in respect of giving additional supports but I will talk to the Minister, Deputy Humphreys.